Goulburn Post
Friday 16/2/2007 Page: 8
WHILE debate still rages as to what - or who - is responsible for causing it, there's no denying that the climate is changing. Even locally, according to research findings in the recently released 2004 State of the Environment Report for ACT region, there is strong evidence the district is warming and drying up.
Again, whether this is due to human activity or not, is not particularly the point we're trying to make in this column. Our point here is that by not acknowledging these ever increasing erratic and extreme patterns of weather - as purported by an overwhelming stream of evidence - we are taking a great risk.
Goulburn Mulwaree Council last week accepted the State of the Environment Report's findings without question and has agreed to place even greater emphasis on addressing climate change in its planning policies.
Even the courts - supposedly the last bastion of truth and justice in our society - acknowledge the existence of climate change and its potential threat to humanity. In allowing the Taralga wind farm to go ahead, Judge Preston in the Land and Environment Court this week adjudicated that the broader public good of increasing the supply of renewable energy would prevail over the "geographically narrower concerns of the Taralga Landscape Guardians" "It is a widely recognised fact that the state of the global environment is in rapid decline, requiring an urgent response if the current quality of life enjoyed by Australians is to continue," he said.
His Honour has set an unequivocal precedent, which many - the vast majority of Australians, we would argue - would subscribe to.
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